{"text":[[{"start":10.6,"text":"Elon Musk’s interventions in UK politics have reignited over the past week, prompting concerns about the influence of the world’s richest man ahead of a by-election that could trigger a change in prime minister."}],[{"start":23.15,"text":"Musk has written more than 110 posts, retweets and replies about British politics since last Wednesday on his social media platform X, with a focus on the murder of student Henry Nowak. "}],[{"start":34.099999999999994,"text":"UK politics accounted for more than one-third of his X activity over the past week, according to FT analysis — almost three times the share devoted to SpaceX, even as Musk sought a $1.8tn valuation in his satellite and AI company’s highly anticipated IPO on June 12."}],[{"start":52.699999999999996,"text":"Nowak’s killing, for which a Sikh man has been sentenced, has provided the latest opportunity for Musk to criticise immigration and policing in the UK. In a previous episode, following a mass stabbing in Southport in 2024, Musk posted “civil war is inevitable” in Britain."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":69.85,"text":"Musk has backed Restore Britain, a new far-right party led by Rupert Lowe, an MP formerly with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. "}],[{"start":79.14999999999999,"text":"Farage has accused Musk of splitting the rightwing vote and increasing the chances of Labour’s Andy Burnham winning the Makerfield by-election this month. "}],[{"start":87.85,"text":"Musk’s interventions have also prompted criticism on the centre-left of British politics. "}],[{"start":93,"text":"Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said Musk’s posts amounted to “a co-ordinated campaign of foreign interference in British democracy by a rogue American tech billionaire who seems hell-bent on injecting poison”. "}],[{"start":106.35,"text":"Energy secretary Ed Miliband last year told Musk to “get the hell out of our politics and our country”."}],[{"start":113.3,"text":"Musk’s interventions were “absolutely” a concern for UK politics, said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. "}],[{"start":121.95,"text":"“I cannot think of anybody who has tried to exert influence in the same way and to the same extent as he has recently from the outside,” Bale added, noting the “sheer volume [of posts] and obsessive quality of his interest in Britain”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":138.2,"text":"Peter Kyle, business secretary, highlighted “X and the misinformation that is spewing into the UK” in a speech late on Wednesday. Kyle added in the talk at Mansion House that a “tiny group of billionaires” now had a disproportionate amount of interest in British lives, including how the country’s citizens voted. "}],[{"start":156.29999999999998,"text":"The percentage of Musk’s total posts that was about the UK this week was the highest in 10 years. It surpassed the level during anti-immigrant riots following the Southport attack in 2024 and asylum hotels in August 2025."}],[{"start":170.2,"text":"Musk had repeatedly called for the release of the police footage of Nowak, in which police officers failed to realise that the student had been stabbed and instead handcuffed him after the killer falsely claimed Nowak had racially abused him. "}],[{"start":183.89999999999998,"text":"Since its release, he has helped to amplify the footage to his 240mn followers, making it a touchstone for far-right narratives."}],[{"start":191.99999999999997,"text":"Musk’s posts about the Nowak case include criticism of “legacy mainstream media”, which he called “hatefully racist against Whites”, drawing comparisons with the murder of George Floyd to highlight an “outrageous double standard” in policing."}],[{"start":206.09999999999997,"text":"In another post, retweeting Restore Britain founder Lowe’s post about the incident, Musk simply wrote “RAGE”."}],[{"start":221.04999999999998,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780548266_7038.mp3"}